U.S. patent number 5,906,823 [Application Number 08/782,755] was granted by the patent office on 1999-05-25 for antimicrobial gloves and a method of manufacture thereof.
Invention is credited to Grover C. Mixon.
United States Patent |
5,906,823 |
Mixon |
May 25, 1999 |
Antimicrobial gloves and a method of manufacture thereof
Abstract
Antimicrobial protection may be provided to protective gloves by
mixing an antimicrobial agent in a glove material plastisol so that
the antimicrobial agent migrates to the exposed surfaces of the
gloves when the agent on the glove surface has been depleted.
Antimicrobial gloves suitable for use in the food industry may be
manufactured using a cold dip process with a plastisol that
includes the following weight percentages of (a) a polymer resin,
such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polypropylene polyethylene (PE),
or polyurethane, 43 to 53%, (b) a plasticizer, such as DINP, 43 to
53%, (c) a stabilizer, such as CaZn, 2.7 to 4.7%, and (d) triclosan
(2,4,4'-trichloro-2'-hydroxydiphenyl ether), 0.3 to 1.0%.
Inventors: |
Mixon; Grover C. (Andrews,
SC) |
Family
ID: |
25127082 |
Appl.
No.: |
08/782,755 |
Filed: |
January 10, 1997 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
|
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239880 |
May 9, 1994 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
424/402;
424/404 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A01N
25/34 (20130101); A01N 31/16 (20130101); A41D
19/0058 (20130101); A01N 31/16 (20130101); A01N
2300/00 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A01N
31/00 (20060101); A01N 31/16 (20060101); A01N
25/34 (20060101); A41D 19/00 (20060101); A01N
025/34 () |
Field of
Search: |
;424/402,404 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Page; Thurman K.
Assistant Examiner: Howard; Sharon
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Rogers & Killeen
Parent Case Text
This is a division of application Ser. No. 08/239,880, filed May 9,
1994, now abandoned.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method of providing antimicrobial protection to protective
gloves comprising the step of mixing antimicrobial agent in a glove
material plastisol comprising a polymer selected from the group
consisting of PVC, polypropylene polyethylene (PE), and
polyurethane, the antimicrobial agent migrating to the exposed
surfaces of the gloves when the agent at the exposed glove surface
has been depleted, the plastisol has the following weight
percentages of the polymer, 43 to 53%, and triclosan, 0.3 to 1.0%,
the plastisol further comprises a plasticizer, 43 to 53% by weight,
and a stabilizer, 2.7 to 4.7% by weight.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the polymer is PVC.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the polymer is PE.
4. A method of manufacturing antimicrobial protective gloves for
food handling, the gloves having an antimicrobial agent
homogeneously distributed in the material from which the gloves are
formed, and in which the agent migrates to the exposed surface of
the glove to restore the antimicrobial effect when the agent at the
exposed surface has been removed, the method comprising the steps
of:
(a) providing a plastisol of the material from which the gloves are
to be formed, the plastisol including the following weight
percentages of,
a polymer selected from the group consisting of PVC,
polypropylene polyethylene (PE), and polyurethane, 43 to 53%,
a plasticizer, 43 to 53%,
a stabilizer, 2.7 to 4.7%, and
triclosan, 0.3 to 1.0%;
(b) dipping glove forms into the plastisol, the glove forms being
warmer than the plastisol so that the plastisol coats the glove
forms;
(c) curing and thereafter cooling the dipped glove forms; and
(d) removing the cooled plastisol from the glove forms to provide
the antimicrobial protective gloves,
wherein the triclosan internal to the gloves will migrate to the
surface of the gloves when the triclosan at the surface of the
gloves is removed, the dipped glove forms are cured by heating them
to about 240.degree. C. for about five minutes, and thereafter
cooled at about 66.degree. C. for about fifteen minutes.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein the plastisol comprises:
the polymer, 48%,
the plasticizer, 48%,
the stabilizer, 3.7%, and
the triclosan, 0.3%.
6. The method of claim 4 wherein the glove forms are about
30.degree. C. warmer than the plastisol into which they are
dipped.
7. The method of claim 5 wherein the plasticizer is DINP.
8. The method of claim 5 wherein the stabilizer is CaZn.
9. The method of claim 5 wherein the dipped gloves are
seamless.
10. The method of claim 4 wherein the polymer is PVC.
11. The method of claim 4 wherein the polymer is PE.
12. The method of claim 4 wherein the polymer is polyurethane.
13. The method of claim 1 wherein the polymer is polyurethane.
14. The method of claim 1 wherein the plastisol further comprises a
plasticizer and a stabilizer.
15. The method of claim 14 wherein the plasticizer is DINP and the
stabilizer is CaZn.
16. The method of claim 1 wherein the antimicrobial agent is
triclosan.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to antimicrobial gloves and a method
of manufacturing such gloves, and more particularly to
antimicrobial gloves for food handlers that are made of triclosan
and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), where the gloves are formed by cold
dipping glove molds in a plastisol of PVC, triclosan, a plasticizer
and a stabilizer.
The food industry is concerned about bacterial contamination and
workers in the industry are frequently required to wear protective
gloves to reduce the likelihood that the bacteria from their hands
will be transmitted to food. However, the protective gloves may
pick up contaminating bacteria from food or work surfaces they
touch, thereby significantly reducing the effectiveness of the
gloves the longer they are worn. A solution, albeit a costly one,
is to have the workers change or disinfect their gloves frequently.
The food industry would prefer a more workable and cost effective
solution.
The gloves used by the food industry are typically made of
polyvinyl chloride (PVC), are seamless to reduce the risk of seam
failure, and meet federal standards for thickness, strength,
elasticity, deformation, etc. Gloves of other materials have been
tried, but they either do not meet the federal standards or are not
acceptable to the food industry (e.g., high cost, not seamless,
difficult to don and remove, uncomfortable to wear, etc.).
Seamless PVC gloves are typically made by dipping glove molds in a
low viscosity PVC plastisol (a liquid mixture of the glove material
that gels to form the gloves), and machines for dipping the glove
molds are well known in the art.
Antimicrobial agents are well known and it would be desirable to
provide protective gloves used in the food industry with an
antimicrobial agent that provides long lasting protection. However,
the industry had been unable to find an antimicrobial agent that
meets federal standards for food handling, that can be used with
PVC gloves, and that will effectively reduce the risk of bacterial
contamination during prolonged wear of the gloves carrying the
agent. For example, conventional PVC gloves may be dusted with an
antimicrobial agent, but the agent would not be effective for
prolonged periods because it would rub off during use and disappear
completely when the gloves are immersed in water.
A potential solution is to mix an antimicrobial agent into a
plastisol. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,091,442 issued Feb. 25,
1992 to Milner suggests that an antimicrobial agent, such as
triclosan, may be mixed with a natural rubber latex plastisol to
provide antimicrobial protection for a tubular article such as a
condom or catheter. However, the effectiveness of the antimicrobial
agent in the article will still diminish during use because the
agent will gradually disappear from the surface of the article and
will not be replenished. That is, the triclosan will be removed
from the surface of the natural rubber latex long before the latex
wears down to expose the triclosan in the interior thereof. The
nature of the natural rubber latex prevents the antimicrobial agent
from migrating to the exposed surface of the latex from its
interior. This limitation may be acceptable where the article makes
a single contaminating contact, but is not acceptable for gloves
that will have numerous contacts with diverse potential
contaminants.
The Milner patent mentions that PVC may be used instead of the
natural rubber latex, but does not suggest how this is to be done.
The method disclosed relates only to natural rubber latex, and the
differences between latex and PVC preclude the application of the
disclosed method to PVC.
It has also been suggested that an antimicrobial agent may be added
to a plastic or polymeric film material, such as PVC, that is used
to make a surgical drape sheet. The structure of the PVC allows
some antimicrobial agents to migrate to the exposed surface of the
drape from the interior thereof when the agent has been removed
from the surface (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,907 issued Dec. 3, 1991
to Mixon, et al.). However, the process and the plastisol used
therewith for making a sheet of plastic or polymeric material are
not suitable for dipping gloves. In the sheet making process a high
viscosity paste is extruded through a sheet feeder at high
temperature. As discussed above, the glove dipping process uses a
low viscosity plastisol.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide
novel protective gloves and a method of making protective gloves
that obviate the problems of the prior art.
It is another object of the present invention to provide novel
protective gloves and a method of providing antimicrobial
protection to such gloves in which an antimicrobial agent in the
glove material migrates to the exposed surfaces of the gloves when
the agent at the glove surface has been depleted.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a
novel method of making seamless protective gloves for the food
industry from a plastisol that includes triclosan and PVC.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a
novel method of making protective gloves in which triclosan
antimicrobial agent is mixed with a PVC plastisol before the gloves
are formed by a cold dip process whereby the triclosan migrates to
the exposed surfaces of the gloves when the triclosan at the
surface has been depleted.
These and many other objects and advantages of the present
invention will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art to
which the invention pertains from a perusal of the claims, the
appended drawings, and the following detailed description of
preferred embodiments.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Antimicrobial protection may be provided to protective gloves by
mixing an antimicrobial agent with a glove material plastisol, the
agent and plastisol being selected so that the antimicrobial agent
migrates to the exposed surfaces of the gloves when the agent at
the glove surface has been depleted.
The antimicrobial agent is preferably triclosan and the glove
material plastisol preferably includes a polymer, such as PVC,
polypropylene polyethylene (PE), or polyurethane. The plastisol
preferably includes 43 to 53% polymer by weight and 0.3 to 1.0%
triclosan by weight.
Triclosan (2,4,4'-trichloro-2'-hydroxydiphenyl ether) is a broad
spectrum antimicrobial agent that is commercially available under
the name Microban.TM. (Clinitex Corp.) and is suitable for use in
the food industry.
Antimicrobial gloves suitable for use in the food industry may be
manufactured using a cold dip process with a plastisol that
includes the following weight percentages of (a) a PVC resin, 43 to
53%, (b) a plasticizer, 43 to 53%, (c) a stabilizer, 2.7 to 4.7%,
and (d) triclosan, 0.3 to 1.0%.
The plasticizer may be any suitable product that has been approved
for use in the food industry, such as di-isonoyphthalate (DINP).
Other phthalate ester plasticizers, such as DIOP, DEOP and DEHP,
may be used for other glove applications where use of the
plasticizer has not been restricted. The stabilizer may be any
suitable product that has been approved for use in the food
industry, such as CaZn.
In a preferred embodiment, the plastisol includes 48% PVC resin
(weight percentage), 48% DINP plasticizer, 3.7% CaZn stabilizer,
and 0.3% triclosan.
In another embodiment the polymer is polypropylene polyethylene
(PE). Test results indicate that the effectiveness of the
antimicrobial agent is improved when mixed with a PE plastisol
because the agent migrates to the surface of the gelled PE
plastisol more quickly. PE gloves may find significant applications
in a number of areas, although at present the cost may be high for
use in the food industry.
The gloves may be formed using a conventional cold dipping process,
such as described in Plastics Engineering Handbook, page 402
(Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc., 1976). As explained
therein, in a cold dipping process a cold or room temperature mold
is dipped into a plastisol, removed from the plastisol and fused.
The thickness of the coating depends upon the low-shear-rate
viscosity and the yield value of the plastisol. The viscosity and
yield value of the plastisol are desirably balanced so that the
plastisol flows well enough to form a uniform coating and yet does
not drip. The plastisol disclosed herein provides a viscosity and
yield value balance suitable for making protective gloves.
Conventional mechanical dipping devices may be used. For example,
multiple glove forms (e.g., thousands of glove forms) may be
carried by a conveyor through the stages in the cold dip
process.
In a preferred embodiment, the glove forms may be cold dipped into
the plastisol when the forms are about 30.degree. C. warmer than
the plastisol, the plastisol being at about 32.degree. C. The
gloves remain in the plastisol for about 15 seconds and are
thereafter removed and cured by heating to about 240.degree. C. for
about five minutes. The cured gloves are cooled at about 66.degree.
C. for about fifteen minutes, and thereafter removed from the
forms. The glove material is about 0.127 millimeters thick and the
gloves are suitable for use in a variety of applications.
The gloves provide effective antimicrobial protection for gloves
for the food industry, meeting all applicable federal regulations.
During use, as the antimicrobial agent at the surface of the
material wears off, the agent in the material migrates to the
surface to provide continued protection.
While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been
described, it is to be understood that the embodiments described
are illustrative only and the scope of the invention is to be
defined solely by the appended claims when accorded a full range of
equivalence, many variations and modifications naturally occurring
to those skilled in the art from a perusal hereof.
* * * * *